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- Subject Name : Management
Principles of Management Assignment
Introduction for Strategy Formulation and Strategic Management
A strategic management approach is a procedure by which leaders formulate and execute a plan which might contribute to a significant advantage that will be sustainable. A strategic planning mechanism is a structured or evolved method of carrying out strategic thinking within the organisation by initial assessment, detailed review, and development of strategies, execution and evaluation (Adobor, 2019). A leader always makes all the necessary steps to make effective strategic plans considering the long run of their industries. This assessment aims at highlighting the strategic formulation under strategic management. The chosen industry is South 32. This industry is located in Western Australia and is a big production firm for the production of iron, silver, zinc, lead, coking, thermal coal, manganese, zinc, nickel and coal (South32.net, 2020). Also, it is well known that the impact of the potential virus namely Covid-19 has affected all the industries. But as the mining industries plays a major role in the production of electricity it is not possible to completely lockdown it. Hence, this essay will deal with the strategic evaluation and management of this pandemic for the control of disease and safety of workers in the mining company and for the management of on-going production.
Strategic Formulation
Mining companies had effective "within the fence" virus disease prevention strategies but in the localities the workers remain susceptible to infectious diseases that is "outside the fence". Therefore, it is of major importance to restructure the strategic policies and procedures to safeguard the workers and the work production. According to Business Jargons (2020), there are five steps a leader must follow to implement effective strategies including initial assessment, analysis of the situation, strategic formulation, strategy implementation and strategy monitoring. Effective review of the problem is accompanied by long-term goals being set. Long-term objectives suggest priorities that will in the near future boost the market position of the organization. They serve as guidance for the collection of different strategies. Techniques are selected at 3 varying levels within an organization: corporate level, business level and functional level strategy. In the first level of strategy it is of prime importance to focus on growth and achievement in the current era of pandemic. The second level makes it mandatory to modify the strategic units and the third level helps in ultimate growth and delivery resources. Business Jargons (2020) puts forth that formulation is one of the major steps under strategic management and its adequate implementation can help the workers to fight against infectious diseases such as covid-19.
Strategies to fight against Emerging Contagious Diseases
Emerging contagious diseases (EIDs) continue to pose a serious challenge to global development. Since the beginnings of the 21st century, the frequency and severity of viruses have escalated and reflect significant costs for the global economy. As the major objective of the mining company will be to take major steps for the safety of the workers there can be implemented multiple initiatives. These may involve limited workers, sanitization rooms, proper sanitization and personal protection kits and health coverage for the workers.
Proper sanitization- Lack of clean water availability and inadequate hygiene standards were pre-covid-19 issues, worsened the epidemic, and will become post-covid-19 issues. Well before the covid-19 epidemic, the inadequate or non-existent water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) facilities in both rural and urban areas caused large portions of the population great difficulties. For overcoming this issue for the mining industry workers it will be made sure that their sanitization and availability of clean water inside the fence. Further, every labour must have alcohol base sanitizers for their use provided by the company. “inside the fence” there will be well structured policies for the workers. They will include limited human contact maintaining distancing from each other. In addition to this camp facilities such as accommodation, time to time collection of garbage and rubbish, safe water and food availability and food prepared for the workers will be kept in clean sterilized containers in sterilized room. In the surrounding regions, where circumstances were favourable for outbreaks due to lower availability of health services and negligence of health systems, inadequate sanitation, and internal migration and expansion, stakeholders found the significant sources of threats to be concentrated. Further, the workers will be provided with personal protective equipment’s such as masks, gloves and sanitizers to help them getting infection form different metal surfaces and human contact.
Limited workers- As this virus spreads through human contact and the workers working in the mining industry comes from different rural and urban areas so it becomes crucial to maintains social distancing. For this the second step for the management would be to allow the workers to take alternative week offs and this will help in maintain production but will also ensure that social distancing is maintained as only half of the workers will attend the industry on each day. According to the recent study on coronavirus it was claimed that it spreads through human contact and from already infected individuals (Mejova & Kalimeri, 2020). Hence, screening will be performed on daily basis and only healthy workers will be allowed to go inside. According to Engert and Baumgartner (2016), limiting workers during pandemic helps in the balance of business and also prevention of the infection. Further, claims that social distancing in the industries will be the specific healthcare measure for the prevention and control of disease. Further, the workers above age 50 will be given holiday until the situation gets better as it is well studied that people with other co-morbidities are at high risk of attaining infection and hence should be kept safe (Mejova & Kalimeri, 2020).
Sanitization chamber- A sanitary chamber designed to safeguard its mine employees and preventing the spread of the dangerous coronavirus that has caused havoc worldwide. The sanitary chambers in one of the southern 32 Ltd mines are already authorized. Every SECL employee at the Mine in south 32 enters the sanitary chamber, where a disinfectant is sprayed over all of the body, rendering the worker clean and healthy (Mejova & Kalimeri, 2020).
Balance of payments- The recovery in the domestic economy in continued at the first half of 2020, representing both a sharp rise in export revenues led by iron ore as well as a decrease in imports. Hence, following lower than normal inflationary pressures, total official foreign reserves decreased (Samson, D., Donnet, T. & Daft, R., n.d). Hence, workers payments will not be affected but the additional benefits will be cut as for now.
Health services- Which include updating the healthcare system for South 32 personnel, improving medical facilities and maintaining conformity with requirements for infection treatment and prevention; incorporating existing legal medical teams to tackle budgetary pressures of health workers; new staffing / mentoring of health personnel will be taken care of. Improve awareness on monitoring and health promotion; ensure adequate disinfection of all buildings used as holds and recovery centres; and prepare for post-covid-19 complications and difficulties, particularly those connected with covid-19 survivors.
Education for the workers- Lack of activity around the country also stopped interim resources being spread to keep workers engaged. Education can be provided to the workers as 6% of the labours do not have access to television or newspaper’s to get current statistics or protocols to control the impact of diseases and to prevent the spread. It will help in improving preparedness and will reduce vulnerability.
Evaluation and Implementation
Strategy development process is an important part of strategy management as it allows succeeding and thriving in the changing business world by designing effective methods for the organisation. Forces and limitations are intrinsic factors regulated by the company. At the other hand, possibilities and risks are external forces which the firm has little influence over. An effective organisation, building on its strengths, resolving its vulnerability, finding potential opportunities and defending from external threats. After setting these objectives it is important to review the outcomes and modify them according to the needs. According to the objectives these set formulation should not affect the production at higher levels, every department should work in co-operation to meet the goals, after the review of the programme the complete formulation should be made for the selection of the best alternatives. This ensures the use of best strategies to fight against the pathogenic covid-19 virus. Typically, strategic cost-effectiveness targets arise in more predictable settings, while creativity and flexibility targets occur in more volatile settings. When organizations begin to address pandemic preparations, they understand that a pandemic is significantly different from other, more typical, industry-continuity issues and is beyond the scope of problems typically considered by continuity managers. The final stage of strategy formulation will also help to implement the most suitable strategies for all the levels that are business, corporate and functional level (Tawse, Patrick & Vera, 2019). All these steps will help in maximizing or balancing the profits rather than
Learning for The Future
From the above strategic formulation it has been learned that Strategy Formulation is an intellectual process of selecting the most correct course of action to confront the managerial goals and sense of direction. This is one of the critical cycle obstacles. The strategic plan helps a company to review its finances, include a financial plan, and carry out the most effective course of action to maximize income. This process will help me determining the right goals for the organization and also to meets the financial requirements of the company and the employees (Tawse, Patrick & Vera, 2019).. The steps taken meet the safety of the employees and ensure that the production is not harmed at huge levels. Secondly, the strategy formulation cycle helped in developing tactical and core strategies for overcoming such pandemic situations. This is kwon that pandemic situation are more prevalent in coming year’s than normal disease and hence such strategies will help in development of the business skills and my leadership skills.
Plans are typically built to help businesses respond to localised threats that impact infrastructures, such as explosions, bombings, protests, earthquakes and hurricanes. Once the occurrence is over, and although the effects may continue, recovery may begin. Further, this makes the leader competent of being ready and prepared for the upcoming sudden changes in the economy and balance of payments hence both the company and the workers remained unharmed and the profits does not reach the grounds (South32.net, 2020). This also becomes an evidence based practice and helps the leaders to make effective decisions that if does not make any profitable changes also does not harm the profit cycle. In addition to this, these steps will not protect the workers from spread of infection and they will get adequate treatment and food and sanitization facilities. Healthy workers make healthy profits and this will work as an essential fact for the mine industry.
Conclusion for Strategy Formulation and Strategic Management
From the above assessment it can be evaluated that pandemics requires immediate attention for the financial growth of the company. These pandemics quickly affect the industry profits and determinately affect the economy. Strategic planning mechanism is a structured or evolved method of carrying out strategic thinking within the organisation by initial assessment, detailed review, and development of strategies, execution and evaluation. These helped the mine industry in overcoming shortage of workers and the economic impact the world is going through. These strategic plans will include limited workers, sanitization rooms, proper sanitization and personal protection kits and health coverage for the workers followed by balance of payments, education and working in co-operation of the current health services. The final stage of strategy formulation will also help to implement the most suitable strategies for all the levels that are business, corporate and functional level. This assessment also developed my learning in the strategic management and now I can use these skills in the future to overcome the pandemic situations. Moreover, this assessment made me realize the impact of a virus pandemic on the economy and need for the industry to be ready for such situations and the strategy formulation cycle helped in developing tactical and core strategies for overcoming such pandemic situations.
References for Strategy Formulation and Strategic Management assignment
Adobor, H. (2019). Opening up strategy formulation: Benefits, risks, and some suggestions. Business Horizons, 62(3), 383-393.
Business Jargons. (2020). What Is Strategy Formulation? Definition, Process, Levels - Business Jargons. Retrieved from: https://businessjargons.com/strategy-formulation
Engert, S., & Baumgartner, R. J. (2016). Corporate sustainability strategy–bridging the gap between formulation and implementation. Journal of cleaner production, 113, 822-834.
Jamison, D., Gelband, H., Horton, S., Jha, P., Mock, C. and Nugent, R. (2017). Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition. 66(9), pp-89-96. BMJ, (2006). Preparing for the pandemic. 332(7544), pp.783.2.
Mejova, Y., & Kalimeri, K. (2020). Advertisers jump on coronavirus bandwagon: Politics, news, and business. arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.00923.
Samson, D., Donnet, T. and Daft, R., n.d. Fundamentals Of Management. 6th ed. Asia - Pacific: Cengage. South32.net. (2020). Strategic formulation for pandemics. Retrieved from: https://www.south32.net/docs/default-source/exchange-releases/south32-strategy-and-business-update-presentation.pdf?sfvrsn=9c61b82e_20
Tawse, A., Patrick, V. M., & Vera, D. (2019). Crossing the chasm: Leadership nudges to help transition from strategy formulation to strategy implementation. Business Horizons, 62(2), 249-257.
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